Russia has claimed its troops have driven the Ukrainian army out of the biggest town in Russia’s Kursk border region, as a senior Kremlin official said that a US-proposed 30-day ceasefire in the war would help Kyiv by giving its weary and short-handed military a break.
The Russian Defence Ministry’s claim that it recaptured the town of Sudzha, hours after President Vladimir Putin visited his commanders in Kursk and wore military fatigues, could not be independently verified. Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment on the claim.
The renewed Russian military push and Mr Putin’s high-profile visit to his troops came as US President Donald Trump presses for a diplomatic end to the war.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, met Russian chief of general staff General Valery Gerasimov during his visit to military headquarters in the Kursk region on Wednesday (Russian Presidential Press Service via AP)
The US lifted its March 3 suspension of military aid for Kyiv on Tuesday after senior US and Ukrainian officials made progress on how to stop the fighting during talks held in Saudi Arabia.
Mr Trump said on Wednesday that “it’s up to Russia now” as his administration presses Moscow to agree to the ceasefire.
The US president has made veiled threats to hit Russia with new sanctions if it will not engage with peace efforts.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that US negotiators were on their way to Russia, but he would not comment on Moscow’s view of the ceasefire proposal.
US President Donald Trump is pressing for a diplomatic end to the war (Pool via AP)
“Before the talks start, and they haven’t started yet, it would be wrong to talk about it in public,” he told reporters.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News that national security adviser Mike Waltz had spoken on Wednesday with his Russian counterpart.
She also confirmed that Mr Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff would head to Moscow for talks with Russian officials, possibly including Mr Putin.
Russian news agencies reported on Thursday that Mr Witkoff’s plane had landed in Moscow. It was not immediately possible to verify the reports.
Senior US officials say they hope to see Russia stop attacks on Ukraine within the next few days.
But Yuri Ushakov, Mr Putin’s foreign policy adviser, complained in televised remarks on Thursday that a ceasefire would grant a “temporary break for the Ukrainian military”.
Mr Ushakov said that Moscow wanted a “long-term peaceful settlement that takes into account Moscow’s interests and concerns”. His comments came a day after his phone call with Mr Waltz.
Mr Ushakov’s comments echoed statements from Mr Putin, who has repeatedly said a temporary ceasefire would benefit Ukraine and its western allies.
The US still has about 3.85 billion US dollars in congressionally authorised funding for future arms shipments to Ukraine, but the Trump administration has shown no interest so far in using that authority to send additional weapons as it awaits the outcome of peace overtures.
By signalling its openness to a ceasefire, Ukraine has presented the Kremlin with a dilemma at a time when the Russian military has the upper hand in the war — whether to accept a truce and abandon hopes of making new gains, or reject the offer and risk derailing a cautious rapprochement with Washington.
The Ukrainian army’s foothold inside Russia has been under intense pressure for months from a renewed effort by Russian forces, backed by North Korean troops.
Mr Putin, right, with General Valery Gerasimov, second left, during his visit (Russian Presidential Press Service via AP)
Ukraine’s daring incursion last August led to the first occupation of Russian soil by foreign troops since the Second World War and embarrassed the Kremlin.
Speaking to commanders on Wednesday, Mr Putin said he expected the military “to completely free the Kursk region from the enemy in the nearest future”.
Mr Putin added that in the future “it’s necessary to think about creating a security zone alongside the state border”, in a signal that Moscow could try to expand its territorial gains by capturing parts of Ukraine’s neighbouring Sumy region. This idea could complicate a ceasefire deal.
Ukraine launched the raid in a bid to counter the unceasingly glum news from the front line, as well as draw Russian troops away from the battlefield inside Ukraine and gain a bargaining chip in any peace talks. But the incursion did not significantly change the dynamic of the war.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, assessed late on Wednesday that Russian forces were in control of Sudzha, a town close to the border that was previously home to about 5,000 people.
Ukraine’s top military head, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, said late on Wednesday that Russian aviation had carried out an unprecedented number of strikes on Kursk and that as a result Sudzha had been almost completely destroyed.
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He did not comment on whether Ukraine still controlled the settlement but said it was “manoeuvring (troops) to more advantageous lines”.
Meanwhile, Major General Dmytro Krasylnykov, commander of Ukraine’s Northern Operational Command, which includes the Kursk region, was dismissed from his post, he told Ukrainian media outlet Suspilne on Wednesday.
He told the outlet he was not given a reason for his dismissal, saying “I’m guessing, but I don’t want to talk about it yet”.